Shaving implement



Aug. 11, 1942. A. A. DlcKE 2,292,931'

SHAVING IMPLEMENT Filed Sept. 3, 1938 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 ll-IIIVIIIIIIIIIIIIHI! W ATToR EY Aug. 1l, 1942i" A 'A, DlcKE 2,292,931

sHAvIN'G IMPLEMENT Filed Sept. 5, 1938- 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 l r fr INVENTOR ATTORNEY Patented Aug. 11, 1942 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE SHAVIN G IMPLEMENT Allen A. Dicke, Montclair, N. J.

Application September 3, 1938, Serial No. 228,302

14 Claims.

and movable radially relative to the cutter body,

said bars being held against said guard by centrifugal force or by suitable spring means.

Another object is to arrange the cutter body or rotor in such a manner relative to the guard as to produce a vacuum causing inflow of air through perforations in the guard so as to draw the hair in through said perforations to a position where they may be severed by the cutter bars.

Another object is to arrange the rotor in such a manner relative to the guard as to cause air to be expelled from the device through openings therein so that the` severed hair, etc., will be ejected from the device.

Another object is to provide such a device having provisions for drawing air thereinto and expeiling it from the device at another point whereby any heat produced by friction is carried away by the air stream.

Another object of the invention is to provide such a device in which the rotor element comprises a gear-toothed member with which meshes another toothed member for driving the rotor, the said cutter bars being mounted in slots formed within the teeth of the rotor.

Another object of the invention is to provide such a device in which means are provided to move the cutter bars inwardly so that they are located substantially within the teeth and will therefore not interfere with the driving toothed element.

Another object of the invention is to provide such a device in which means are provided to move the cutter bars away from contact with the guard during a part of the revolution so that the edges of the bars will be worn away in such a manner as always to present a sharp cutting edge.

Further objects and advantages of this invention will be apparent from consideration of the specication as illustrated by the accompanying drawings of possible embodiments of the invention, in which drawings:

i fr

Fig. 1 shows the exterior of a device embodying the invention;

Fig. 2 is a top view of the device shown in Fig. 1 with certain parts broken away;

Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken on the line III-III of Fig. 4;

Fig. 4 is a longitudinal transverse sectional view taken on the line IV-IV of Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a View similar to Fig. 3 but showing a slightly modiiied form;

Fig. 6 is a view partly in longitudinal section of a further modiiied form;

Fig. 7 is a, partial external view of another modification, the axis of the rotor lying at an angle to the axis of the motor shaft.

Fig. 8 is a cross-sectional view taken on line VIII- VIII of Fig. 7;

Fig. 9 is a perspective view of a modified form of rotor which may be used in place of the form of rotor shown in the other ligures.

Referring particularly to Figs. 1 to 4 inclusive, the numeral II designates the handle portion of such a device which also serves to house a suitable electric motor, current to which may be supplied through conductor IIa, the current being controlled by any suitable switch as I Ib. Shown attached to said handle portion is a shaver head comprising a guard I2 and a rotor I3 shown mounted eccentrically within a cylindrical bore formed in said guard. In the form shown in Figs. 1 to 4 the rotor is shown as comprising a length of pinion rod having teeth I3a one or more of which are provided with slots I3b. Within each of said slots is mounted a cutter bar I4 for' generally radial sliding movement therein. It will be seen that if the rotor is rotated at a suiiiciently high speed the cutter bars will fly outwardly due to centrifugal force acting thereon so that the bars will be in closel contact with the inner bore of the guard; it being understood, however, that leaf or coil springs may be inserted in said slots under said bars to cause them to move outwardly. Due to the eccentric arrangement each plate will move outwardly away from the center (by centrifugal force and springs, if used) during the period when it is moved from the lowermost position shown in Fig. 3 to the uppermost position and will be forced inwardly during the balance of the revolution.

The rotor may be supported for rotation by any suitable means. A very desirable means for this purpose is shown in Fig. 4 in which I5 and I6 indicate end plates having reduced hub extensions I5a and ISa tting within the bore of the guard. The end plates however extend downwardly where they may be conveniently attached to the handle by any suitable fastening means such as screws I'I. As shown, the rotor is provided with conical bores I8 and I9. The bore I8 preferably receives a conical hub I5b formed on end plate I5. The end plate I6 is shown as provided with a threaded bushing having a conical end face bearing within the conical bore I9. By rotating said bushing the end play of the rotor is controlled. In order to further hold the parts in position, a tie-rod or screw 2| may be provided, the threaded end 2Ia of which is threaded into the end plate I 5.

Any suitable means may be provided to drive said rotor including the shaft of an electric motor attached to the rotor or a flexible shaft or other driving means. A preferred form of driving means comprises a gear or other toothed member cooperating with the teeth I3a, Such a gear is shown at 22, (Figs. 3 and 4) mounted upon a shaft 23 mounted in suitable bearings. In the form shown these bearings comprise discs 24 located in a bore 25 of an intermediate member 26 attached as by dove-tailed -joints 21 to the handle portion II and also attached as by dove-tails 21a to the guard member per se. It is, of course, to be understood that any one or more of said separate parts may be made integrally. As a suitable form of drive therefore the shaft 23 is shown provided with a bevel pinion 28 with which cooperates a bevel gear 29 carried upon the shaft 30 which may be the usual shaft of the electric motor, housed in the handle I I.

It will be seen that as the rotor carries a cutter bar from the position of maximum eccentrcity (top position) to the position of minimum eccentrcity (bottom position), the bar will be forced inwardly, until it is almost entirely enclosed within its gear tooth I3a so that said gear tooth may pass through the gear 22 without interference. For this reason the driving gear or other toothed member I2 may be located at any desired point along the rotor. As the driving connections do not have to be mounted at the end of the rotor the cutter bars may extend the entire length of the rotor and thus the perforations in the guard may extend practically to (the end of the guard permitting shaving up into otherwise inaccessible corners as where the nose and upper lip come together.

The center of the bore in the guard is at point a and it will be seen therefore that if the cutting edges of the bars I4 are so formed as to fit against the bore of the guard at the point d, only the forward or leading edge of the bar will contact the guard at other points thus providing a clearance angle' which. improves the cutting action. As the-:cutter bars change their position relative to the radii 'of' the bore in the guard as they turn therein, the leading edge would probably wear round, resulting in poor cutting action. It may therefore be desirable to provide a strip of abrasive material as shown in 3|, preferably dove-tailed in as shown. The abrasive material should be of a type which has very little abrasive action so as not to cause undue wearing away of the bars. By placing the abrasive at the point indicated, the after edges of the plates will be ground down so as to provide a suitable clearance angle and a sharp leading edge.

The guard I2 is provided with a plurality of perforations which may be of any desired shape as circular or elongated. As in the drawings, these perforations are shown as slots I2a extending generally longitudinally of the cutter head. They are shown as lying at a small angle to the cutter bars so that a desirable shearing cut will take place. Furthermore, as shown best in Fig. 3, the cutting edge of the perforations is so formed as to present a desirable cutting angle.

It will be noted that a slot 22a is formed in the lower part of the guard I2 to provide clearance for the driving gear 22. Furthermore, one or more openings I2b are provided in the guard for a purpose to be presently described. After a cutter bar has passed the slot 22a, the space between it and the preceding cutter bar is substantially sealed from the outside air. This space, however, increases gradually so that the air therein will expand forming a partial vacuum. Therefore as soon as the preceding blade passes within the range of the perforations I2a, air will flow therethrough into said space,l thus causing a suction effect which will draw the air into the perforations and will also causebthe skin to be drawn up into the perforations-thus providing for a very close shave.

It will be noted that the blades I4 act as pistons or pump vanes in cooperation with the guard housing in such a manner as to produce a positive displacement air pump which is capable of producing a relatively high vacuum.

The amount of suction will vary with the lit of the bars, the amount of eccentrcity and the speed of rotation. It will also vary for the dilferent perforations, the greatest amount of suction being at the point where the blades or bars first reach the perforations. The amount of vacuum can be further increased by forming the rotor substantially cylindrically, the teeth being formed only at those points where they are needed. Such a form of rotor is shown in Fig. 9.

As the blades or bars I4 move from their uppermost position toward the right and downwardly, the air between the adjacent blades is entrapped and slightly compressed so that the air therein is forced out through one or more openings I2b carrying with it the hair segments which have been cut off as well as any loose particles of epidermis.

It may be undesirable to have the cutting edges of the bars I4 engage the bore in the guard during a certain part of the revolution. For this purpose it may be desirable to provide bar retracting cams such as the arc shaped raised portions I5c and I6c (Figs. 3 and 4) which cooperate with slots I4a and I4b respectively in the ends of the cutter bars I4 (Fig. 4) These parts are so arranged that immediately after passing theperforations I2a the bars I4 will, through the engagement of the inner edges of slots I4a and I4b with the retracting cams I5,c and I6c, be withdrawn from contact with the bore of the guard I2 and gradually forced inwardly, However, after riding off the lower end of the cams I5c and I6c the bars will fly out to engage the bore of the guard, bearing thereagainst during that part of the revolution where the bars will be worn down at their after edge and thus provide a sharp leading edge. As the bars cannot engage the bore during most of that part of the revolution where the leading edges would be worn away, the bars will automatically be so worn as to provide a sharp leading edge continuously. Therefore, when such retracting cams are used it may not be necessary to provide the abrasive 3I.

It is to be understood, of course, that the ends of the rotor Would be so formed as to provide clearance for the cams Ic and |60.

It Will be noted that in the form shown in Fig. 3 the point of maximum eccentricity occurs at the top, viz., near the center of the perforations |2a. Fig. 5 comprises an improvement thereover in that the center of the bore of the guard is located at the point b lying in the line c which is about 30 to the vertical line. With this arrangement the vacuum pump action continues to the line c thus extending over the entire area of the perforations 12a. In this form of construction the driving gear 22 is not located at the point of minimum eccentricity and therefore the cutting bars IA have not fully receded into their slots. This is however, not important, because the clearance between its teeth will serve to accommodate that part of the bar which projects slightly from beyond the teeth. However, if bar retracting cams, like cams l5c and |60 are used, they may be so shaped as to retract the bars fully at the meshing point.

Fig. 6 shows a modified form of construction in which the motor shaft 30 is parallel with the axis of the rotor. In this case the driving gear 22h is shown mounted directly on the motor shaft 3U and engages directly with teeth on the rotor which in the form shown is of the type in which the gear teeth occupy only a small portion of the length of the rotor, said gear teeth being formed by cutting or molding depressions therein. In this form one of the end plates may be formed integral with the guard and the other end plate 35 formed somewhat similar to the end plate i5.

In the form of invention shown in Figs. 7 and 8 the drive is by means of the worm 22e mounted on the motor shaft 30 and serving to engage directly with teeth on the rotor, which teeth may either be cut the full length of the rotor or only at that portion where the Worm 22e is located. In order to keep the gear teeth |3a as nearly straight as possible to properly accommodate the cutter bars I4, it is desirable to place the shaver head at an angle to the motor shaft as shown in Fig. 7.

The construction embodied in all of the forms illustrated wherein a rotor carries generally radially movable cutting members has the advantage among others that it is not necessary to have the interior of the guard surface formed accurately since the members may move relatively to the rotor to accommodate for any inaccuracies, and this is true even though the rotor is not mounted eccentrically.

It will be noted that the constructions shown and described will serve admirably to accomplish the objects stated above. It is to be understood, however, that the constructions disclosed above are intended merely as illustrative of the invention and not as limiting as various modifications therein may be made without departing from the invention as defined by a proper interpretation of the claims Which follow, for example, the apertures IZb, instead of opening to the atmosphere may connect with a receptacle for collecting the hair, etc. Such a receptacle may be formed as a cloth bag, a cavity in the intermediate member 26, or a drawer inserted into a cavity in said intermediate member or any other part of the implement.

I claim:

1. In a shaving implement, a guard formed with a skin engaging surface and an internal surface at least a part of which comprises a surface of revolution, perforations in said guard, a rotor mounted within said guard for complete rotation, and cutting members carried by said rotor and movable radially relative thereto bearing against said cylindrical inner surface and serving to shear oi hair protruding through said perforations, together with means for positively moving said cutting members centripetally.

2. In a shaving implement, a guard formed with a skin engaging surface and an internal surface at least a part of which comprises a surface of revolution, perforations in said guard, a rotor mounted within said guard for complete rotation and cutting members carried by said rotor and movable radially relative thereto bearing against said cylindrical inner surface and serving to shear off hair protruding through said perforations, said cutting members comprising plates slidable generally radially in slots in said rotor and means for positively moving said cutting members centripetally, said means comprising cam members engageable with slots in the ends of said plate.

3. In a shaving implement, a guard formed with a skin engaging surface and an internal surface at least a part of which comprises a surface of revolution, perforations in said guard, a rotor mounted within said guard eccentrically to the axis of the cylindrical inner surface of said guard and cutting plates carried by said rotor and movable generally radially relative thereto bearing against said cylindrical inner surface and serving to shear olf hair protruding through said perforations.

4. A device according to claim 3 in which means are provided for positively moving said cutting members centripetally.

5. A device according to claim 3 in which said cutting members comprise bars slidable generally radially in slots in said rotor and in which means are provided for positively moving said cutting members centripetally, said means comprising cam members engageable with slots in the ends of said bars.

6. In a shaving implement, a guard formed with a skin engaging surface and an internal cylindrical bore, perforations in said guard, a rotor mounted Within said guard eccentrically to the axis of the cylindrical inner surface of said guard and cutting members carried by said rotor and movable radially relative thereto bearing Within said bore and serving to shear off hair protruding through said perforations.

7. A device according to claim 6 in which means are provided to increase the abrasive action upon said cutting members when they are in a position where the after edges of said cutting member are nearer to the surface of said bore than the leading edge.

8. A device according to claim 6 in which means are provided to increase the abrasive action upon said cutting members when they are in a position Where the after edges of said cutting members are nearer to the surface of said bore than the leading edge, said means comprising an abrasive member forming part of said bore.

9.'A device according to claim 6 in which means are provided to increase the abrasive action upon said cutting members When they are in a position where the after edges of said cutting members are nearer to the surface of said bore than the leading edge, said means comprising means for retracting said cutting members from 4 aaeaoar contact with said bore at a certain portion of the Y revolution.

10. In a shaving implement, a guard formed with a skin engaging surface and aninternal surface at least a part of which comprises a surface of revolution, perforations in said guard, a gear toothed rotor mounted Within said guard,

cutting members carried by said rotor and movable relative thereto bearing against said cylindrical inner surface and serving to shear off hair protruding through said perforations, saidutting members being retractable into recesses at least a part of which lie within said gear teeth, and a driving gear meshing with the teeth of said gear toothed rotor.

11. In a shaving implement, a guard formed Y with a skin engaging surface and an internal surface at least a part of which comprises a surface of revolution, perforations in said guard, a toothed rotor mounted Within said guard, cutting members carried by said rotor and movable relative thereto bearing against said cylindrical inner surface and serving to shear off hair protruding.

through said perforations, said cutting members being retractable into recesses at least a part of which lie within said teeth, a toothed driving member' meshing with the teeth on said rotor and meansccomprising elements operated as an incident to relative rotary movement between the rotor and the guard for retracting said cutting members as they approach and pass through the meshing zone.

. 12. In a shaving implement, a guard formed with a skin engaging surface and an internal surface,A perforations in said guard, a movable cutting member cooperating with the `internal surface of said guard and serving to shear off hairfprotruding through said perforations, said cutting member being so constructedl and arranged as to form a pump vane acting in cooperation -with said guard to produce a partial vacuum `onthe inner Vside of said guard which causes inow of air through said perforations.

Y 13.` A device according to claim 3 in which the said guard, rotor and cutting members are so .constructed and arranged that they act as an air pump to draw air into said perforations.

` t 14. 'Ihe combination of claim 3, the guard being formed with end Walls, and the end of the cutting plates terminating adjacent said end Walls whereby a positive displacement Vane pump is provided for drawing air through said perforations. ALLEN A. DICKE. 

